Gramsci's Concept of Common Sense: Towards a Theory of Subaltern Consciousness in

Hegemony Processes
Author(s): Arun K. Patnaik
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 23, No. 5 (Jan. 30, 1988), pp. PE2-PE5+PE7-PE10
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 Gramsci's Concept of Common Sense
Towards a Theory of Subaltern Consciousness
in Hegemony Processes
Arun K Patnaik

This paper is largely a reconstruction of Gramsci's attempts towards an understanding of subaltern co

in hegemony processes. In Section I, views on commron sense (or 'ordinary' folk's sense-perceptions
in bourgeois traditions are briefly presented. Section II is about Gramsci's treatment of certain case
filtration of these bourgeois accounts into the Marxist camp by way of his critique of Croce's and
schemes, In Section III, Gramsci's own scheme on 'comnmon sense' and its elements are proposed
Sections IV and VK relationships between the hegemony process and the 'common sense' of subalte
one hand, and relations between certain counter-hegemony systems and subaltern consciousness, on
are delineated.

The popular element 'feels' but does not praxis which is non-rebellion. ceed to see how Gramsci formulates certain
always know or understand; the intellectual cases of their infiltration into Marxism. For
On the other hand, studies on 'non-
element 'knows' but does not always under- the present purpose, we may limit ourselves
rebellion' or more,adequately speaking, the
stand and in particular does not always feel. to a brief discussion of Enlightenment and
hegemony process, have a tendency to treat
The, two extremes are therefore pedantry and
subaltern paraxis as one co-opted or coerc- pre-Enlightenment philosophies.
philistinism on the one hand and blind
ed fully by the "ruling ideas". Hence such Enlightenment rationality, as is well
passion and sectarianism on the other.
studies are satisfied with a critique of 'domi- known, condemned the views of ordinary
-.Gramsci on 'Passage from Knowing nant ideologies' or structures of political people as superstitious, naive, meaningless,
to Understanding and to Feeling and economy. Subaltern praxis in the hegemony irrational, and so on. The task of philosophy
Vice Versa' process is treated as a mere "sedimentation" was to supersede their belief systems, for 'or-
of the dominant ideologies [Counihan, 1986: dinary' beliefs did not even contain a frag-
THI-S paper is about the popular element,
7; Bates, 1975: 352] ment,of Truth. On the other hand, much of
its 'feelings', its 'percepts', its 'common
pre-Englightenment philosophy in Europe
sense', especially as these are formed within What happens to Marxism as a believed that the primary task of philosophy
hegemony processes. It is concerned with the
philosophy when these two broad tenden- was to explore the world of 'intuitions', 'feel
evolution of a framework as proposed by cies continue to predominate the current- ings', 'sense-perceptions' and scoffed at the
Gramsci in his discussions of the structure
discourses? More specifically, a central ques- possibility of 'reasoning' or 'understanding'
of common sense in the popular elements.
tion of the paper is: what is the character the human world. For human beings were
It also offers certain 'cases' to examine some
of the praxis of subaltern groups when they nothing more than a 'bundle of feelings'
ideas of the Grams&an scheme on the sub- are subject to the domination/direction of
(Hume's pet phrase). Not that ordinary folk
ject under consideration.I Gramsci's the ruling bloc?'This paper is about some were incapable of 'reasoning' or 'understan-
scheme, as seen belbw, seems to havesuch a cer-
questions and their answers. ding', but such processes of 'reasoning' etc
tain distinctiveness in the Marxist tradition
were unnecessary for a human philosophy,
which is why it needs special attention in any The paper runs as follows. In Section I,
or in a more-radical sense, 'oppressive' for
discussion of the cognitive maps of the the views on common sense (or, 'ordinary'
the common people.
popular element. The paper is however silent folk's sense-perceptions) as viewed in
on the insights into the concept of 'common bourgeois traditions are briefly presented. The Enlightenment tradition did not ac-
sense' offered by sociologists and anthro- Section II is about Gramsci's treatment of cord any recognition to the feelings of com-
pologists of the modernisation theory certain cases of the infiltration of these mon people; thereby, it was capable of
genre,2 and also hoy Gramsci's Marxist bourgeois accounts into the Marxist camp establishing for philosophy a physical
scheme could radically differ from this genreby way of his critique of Croce's and distance from the 'crowd' and their
of modernisation theorists. It is irn a sense Bukharin's schemes. In Section III, 'percepts'. A 'peasant' is still treated in-terms
largely a reconstruction of Gramsci's at- Gramsci's own scheme on 'common sense' of this construct as an 'uneducated person
tempts towards an understanding of and its elements are proposed. Finally, in of low social status' living in the countryside
subaltern- consciousness in hegemony Sections IV and V, relationships between the [Longman Dictionary, 1984]. The physical
processes. hegemony process and the 'common sense' distance from 'low social status' people that
of subalterns, on the one hand, and relations this philosophy is capable of establishing is
There seem to be two other crucial tenden-
between certain counter-hegemony systemsvery clear in case of historians following this
cies in Marxist scholarship on working class
and subaltern consciousness,, on the other, tradition who write volumes on a 'national
consciousness which form the context of the movement' in India or elsewhere without
are 'delineated.
paper. On the one hand, there is a tendency even mentioning the contributions of a fac-
of unilateral pursuit of what is known as tory worker or a poor peasant.
"praxis called rebellion'" Such studies do The continuation* of the pre-
probably provide a source of strength for What worries Gramsci all through his Enlightenment tradition is more subtle.
contemporary Marxism in its struggle with writings is that certain philosophical tradi- Philosophy is here some kind of systematic
various trends of "dominant ideologies". tions, originally elaborated by their ad- rendering of the chaotic world of sense-
However, in this zealous pursuit of what in vocates to defend the bourgeois social order,perceptions. This philosophy locates sense-
a broad sense may be called the counter- have during his time sufficiently penetratedperceptions in everyday existence, and has
hegemony process, the point that seems to into Marxism and created tremendous pro- been content to take, just as they are, the feel-
be subtly neglected is a vast terrain and blems for its further progress. Let us eamine ings, intuitions or ideas of everyday exis-
possibly the dominant current of subalterT, two such bourgeois traditions before we pro- t-a Thus, a cormmon man's structures of

PEr2 Economic and Political Weekly January So, 1988

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feeling are not only meaningful, but these ing those needs and taking that life only as tegral part of their knowledge processes. In
are the only structures that philosophy must real which simulates appearance and beauty.'such a situation, the relationship between
rely on for 'ultimate truth'. All talk of Marxism and its agencies is, in an organisa-
'reasoning' or 'understanding' ih order to fI tional sense, a one-sided monologue, struc-
establish the meaning of the human world turally similar to the relationship between
Both the philosophical traditions, as
is meaningless, for such talk is only based the Church and the believer, the temple priest
Gramsci would argue, have infiltrated into
on arbitrary choice of explanatory schemes. and the peasant, the teacher and the disci-
Marxism and bolcked its progress as an
In the preface to the English edition of ple and so on.
autonomous philosophy. There is, on the one
Capital I, Engels identifies such a tendency In this monologue, the working class,
hand, a tendency in Marxism which, in its
in classical political economy [Engels, instead of developing further its own
attempts at critique, takes cognisance of the
1886:14]. thought in and through the organisation's
so-called 'copyright' philosophies and ig-
Political Economy has been generally con- 'mediation' becomes increasingly dependent
nores nonchalantly 'the philosophy of the
tent to take, just as they were, the terms of on the 'direction' of the organisation's pro-
commercial and industrial life, and to operate
non-philosophers'. This is a typical ra-
fessional intellectuals. The organisation,
with them, entirely failing to see that by so tionalist undermining of the perceptions of
following the logic of 'educating' the
doing, it confined itself within the narrow the "non-philosophers". There are, for
subaltern groups, is not able to break with
circle of ideas expressed by those terms. . . example, innumerable Communist Party
the traditional teacher-pupil relationship and
classical political economy never went Journals and non-party leftist periodicals
consequently is not able to facilitate an intel-
beyond the received notions of profitswhich f'nd have so much to talk about the domi-
lectual formation within the agency itself.
rents (emphasis mine), never examined this nant ideologies or the 'avant-garde' radicals,
Notwithstanding the physical hardships,
unpaid part of the product in its integrity as and almost nothing in them about a worker's
ideological pressures, moral honesty and in-
a whole.... perceptions. On the other hand, there is also
dividual discipline which the 'professional
Engels is here referring to certain a tendency in certain radical groups to act
intellectuals' of the organisation do undergo,
theoretical obsessions with notions 'receiv- as 'intuitive' militants. This intuitive man of
in their logic of making Marxism popular
ed' from the immediate character of observ- the revolutionary genre does not seem to
they only reproduce the traditional teacher-
ed economic processes. This is an em- bother about "the heavy thundercloud that
pupil relationship between the 'organisation'
piricist/positivist tendency in economic might burst upon him to wrap him up in its
and "the masses". The 'de-classed' intellec-
theory. In political theory too, one frequent-cloak", for, we are told, he is committed to
tuals in the.organisation become the perma-
ly comes across similar tendencies in studies a 'cause'. And, for him only the cause mat-
nent explicators of Marxism for the workers.
which may be termed as 'populist' literature. ters, not its consequences. There is, thus, a
Thus, the 'original' cognitive maps of the
The quality of politics of certain 'popular' tendency in him to live with what may be
subaltern groups are in reality made subor-
leaders is evaluated on the basis of the ex- called the 'intuition' of subaltern groups.
dinate to the organisation's discourse. The
pectations of the 'majority' which the leader Gramsci's critique of Bukharin's Marxism
organisation's Marxism seems more and
commands within a national boundary. In as well as Croce's treatment of 'common
more difficult impregnable and pedantic for
a seminar in New Delhi in 1984, a speaker sense' of the popular element identifies these
the workers to grasp and internalise. Marx-
while dismissing the critics of Indira two broad tendencies, respectively:
ism paradoxically reinforces a wide-spread
oandhi's regime argued that she was the As Gramsci argues, Bukharin's 'Manual',
prejudice that philosophical exercises are in-
only national leader in whom the majority intended to popularise Marxism among the
comprehensible for laymen. A Marxism that
of Indians had 'full faith'. What seems to 'rank-and-file' of the party, provides a study
is meant to educate the subaltern groups but
be the crucial aspect in this populist of social contradictions and a critique of the
which does not evolve out of the workers
literature is that certain political regimes are bourgeois ideologies but does not have
perceptions, original or appropriated, can-
defended for being fully consistent with the anything to say about the ideas or activities
not but remain an external force imposed
percepts of the masses. A critique of the of workers themselves. In its concrete
on the working class as whole.
ideologies propagated by the popular leaders political forms, it undertakes only those
is usually dismissed as being inconsistent political tasks which help to 'educate' the The other philosophical tendency Gramsci
with "the will of all". The' critics of working class in the philosophies of the subjects to a rigorous scrutiny is represented
'populism' on the other, have usually treated "philosophers". It offers only a critique of by Benedetto Croce's view of the "popular
such popular beliefs as popular 'misconcep- the more holistic dimensions in political element". Croce (1886-1952), by his associa-
tions'. For, as critics argue, the masses may' economy, philosophy or the different kindstion with the French Syndicalist,-Georges
follow a leader either because of a lack of of socialism. To transpose this kind of Sorel, sustained a radical image for himself
awareness or because they are 'misled' 'Manual' to the Indian case, we might think and had during the pre-fascist period con-
Thus, there are two crucial philosophical of a textbook meant to educate the work- siderable influence on the young intellectuals
traditions. Philosophers in one tradition ing class in a political-economic critique of of the Italian Left. This is one qf the main
wonder how the structure of Common sense the Indira regime or the 'Rajiv era' or the reasons why Gramsci devotes himself at
can at all be meaningful as a contributing planning models. It would be essentially length to a rigorous critique-of what could
factor to the growth of knowledge, or what concerned with a holistic political economy be. called Crocean leftism. Cr6ce, influenc-
it calls 'reasoning/'understanding. The of India. ed by the hermeneutic tradition in Italy, con-
other tradition feels that the identificationThe central assumption here seems to be sidered 'common sense' as a set of views ex-
of the structure of common sense or what that the perceptions of subaltern groups sub-pressed by the 'ordinary' folk and treated it
it calls 'sense-perceptions'/'intuition'/ ject to domination by the ruling classes are as the source as well as the content of each
the
'feeling', is adequate for philosophy. This is products of a process moulded com- and every philosophical system. One would
a situation which Neitzsche describes as pletely by the "ruling ideas". That the find, Croce felt, each and every philoso-
"philosophy of non-philosophers' as we see
follows: "There are ages, when the rational phical idea in the world of common sense.
and the intuitive man stand side by side, below,
the is relatively origihal to the "non- It would mean, for example, that Hegel's
philosophers" themselves is ignored by a
one full of fear of the intuition, the other search for the Absolute Idea was in a sense.
Marxist critique. It is thus completely
full of scorn for the abstraction; the latter akin to certain philosophical urges within
oblivious of the world which the workers
just as irrational as the former is inartistic. ordinary people. What Weber explains as the
Both desire to rule over life; the one by already know and live with. Consequently, 'charismatic' leadership could be traced back
knowing how to meet the most important Marxism projected in this form turns out forto its roots in the common sense of common
needs with foresight, prudence, regularity; the workers, like any other philosophy, ex- people. So on and so forth. In Gramsci's
the other as an 'over-joyeus' hero by ignor- ternal to their everyday existence, not an in- [1971: 422] own words:

Economic and Political Weekly January 30, 1988 PE-3

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 In Croce, the proposition that all men are thought process of subaltern groups situatedindicate contradictory dimensions in Muli's
philosophers has an excessive influence on within hegemony processes? What is its thought structure. Muli, a Bauri (caste) by
his judgment about common sense. It seems nature? Is it possible, as some people ask, birth in a village near Bhubaneswar, earns
that Croce often likes to feel that certain to think of a domain of thlught 'original' his livelihood as a poor peasant, as a con-
philosophical propositions are shared by to certain groups who are by definition struction worker and also as a pimp by sup-
common sense. But what can this mean subaltern? Are these questions relevant for plying wealthy upper-caste men with his own
concretely? a political theory? An attempt has been caste women. Muli's account of the norms
Gramsci finds the Crocean formulations made below to answer these questions by of upper-caste men and women varies from
in its concrete forms highly unsatisfactory. presenting the Gramscian scheme and also rationalisation to ridicule. In Freeman's
As he [1971: 422] argues "... one can find certain illustrations from Indian cases in [1979: 384] words:
there (in common sense) anything that one order to elaborate the scheme. Muli displayed a wide range of behaviours
likes'" And precisely because it can be made in different situations, with different and with
to contain 'anything', common sense is a III the same high-caste people; he frequently
chaotic aggregate of perceptions in a played up to generous landowning masters,
worker's everyday life.. Its fascinating Only on the basis of a Marxist notion of construction employers or upper-caste
character is the contradictory quality in itself totality is Gramsci trying to examine the customers for his prostitutes, pretending
which, as we will see below, unlike the nature of working-class 'common sense in loyalty but privately ridiculing their
philosophical systems, is not very coherent the hegemony process. As he defines the behaviours and ideals. Muli's acquiescence
and systematic. This is the essential dif- 'common sense' of the subaltern groups in to his superiors did not mean that he ac-
ferences between the cognitive maps of the space and time, the structure of common cepted his lot.
'ordinary' workers and the philosophical sense appears to be contradictory in charac- Gramsci's concept of contradictory com-
systems elaborated by 'extraordinary' in- ter: protests yesterday and subordination mon sense is thus about a specific structure
dividuals or a 'school' of thought-a distinc- today, social satires of upper-class norms of working-class consciousness located in
tion Croce fails to establish. The history of even when subject to their control, mil- space and time. Since its structure, as
philosophy, as Gramsci argues, Is in certain lenarian hopes entwined with fatalistic sub- Gramsci [1971: 419] argues, is "not ... iden-
senses a 'resolution' of contradictions in the mission, undertaking a coup in a factory tical in time and space", it means two things:
world of common sense, not just a mirror while expecting the state agents to 'assist', first, when the episodes/moments of subal-
'reflection' of it. Croce, on the other hand, faith in the national/provincial elite in tern activity, unaided by a systematic theory,
tends to treat it as a simple reflection of the delivering 'benefits' accompanied by a are treated over time and across space, the
commonsensical world and thereby, he simultaneous process of resentment against forms of consciousness remain at variance
undermines the questions of historical the behaviour of local state officials, and so with one another; and secondly, the every-
growth of philosophical systems which on. are,These are a few cases of 'contradictions' day forms of consciousness of an individual
in fact, nothing but the 'highpoints' of pro- in working-class consciousness-a 'con- or a subaltern group may be dichotomous
gress made by the history of common sense tradiction' that is central to their own in 'being'
character.
[Gramsci, 1971: 330-331]. as subaltern, i e, subject to a broader
While a worker may have the urge to
Thus, there is, as Gtamsci admits a form hegemony process. Gramsci [1971: 333]
describes the nature of 'contradiction' of a
struggle for a better future, he may not be
of affinity between a philosophical system
worker's consciousness as follows: "His sure of others joining him in the struggle,
and a structure of common sense-the kinds
theoretical consciousness can indeed be and consequently, he may accept the status
of affinities Croce exaggerates without being
historically in opposition to his activity. One quo as fate. Sometimes, the workers may like
able to establish their distinctions. In the
himself or his children to be superior to him,
Gramscian scheme, the form of affinity bet- might almost say that he has two theoretical
a petty-bourgeois perhaps. On other occa-
ween bourgeois philosophie, and the consciousnesses (or one contradictory con-
sions, as Cohen [1979: 25] argues, he might
subaltern percepts is always external. They sciousness) one which is implicit in his
well agree with what Eugene Debbs said, "I
impose themselves on the 'original thought' activity and which in reality unites him with
all his fellow-workers in the practical trans- don't want to rise above the working class,
of the subaltern groups and create/recreate
formation of the real world; and one, super-
I want to rise with them". There may, thus,
the limits to the p.ogress of subaltern's
be a contradiction between the trans-class
knowledge-process [Gramsci, 1971: 419-20]. ficially explicit or verbal, which he has in-
aspirations on the one hand .and the egali-
This they do either by patronising common herited from the past and uncritically ab-
tarian aspirations on the other, both
sense as meaningful on its own or by con- sorbed!'
simultaneously embedded in working-class
demning it as superstitious non-sense. In In the English usage, as seen in the above
common sense.
passage, the term is 'contradictory con-
both cases, further development of working-
sciousness' However, for our analytical pur- Such cases may be episodic. The point,
class consciousness Wimpossible. And, this
is central to a hegemony process. poses, we would prefer, as Gramsci himself however, is that each episode contributes to
The tendency to ignore the subaltern rigorously argues, 'common senseY'con- a totality and also, a relative totality-in-itself.
percepts as in Bukharin, or to patronise tradictory common sense' as a cultural The urges to struggle for a better future, the
them as in Croce, are not merely historical category analytically distinct from the forms uncertainties in its coordination and, the
misconstructions of subaltern percepts in of^ 'consciousness' associated with the consequent tendency to accept Fate may well
hegemony processes, but also misconstruing philosophical systems. The term 'contradic- constitute distinct dimensions united in an
the externality in the relationship between tory consciousness' is not likely to serve theepisode/a micro-totality. The urges to strug-
the "feelings" of the popular element, and purpose. We prefer 'contradcitory common gle for a better future can indeed be seen
reasoning/understanding of the philoso- sense' as an analytical concept to help us historically in opposition to the tendency to
phical systems elaborated by the traditional identify certain forms of consciousness of accept, however reluctantly, one's own ob-
intellectuals of the bourgeois society. A meresubaltern groups. jective position. Even in cases where the
critique of the dominant ideologies and The concept of contradictory common worker has accepted the 'destiny' assigned
structures is not likely to break with the ex-sense does not merely refer to the nature of to him by the bourgeois ideologies, fatalism
ternal relations which these ideologies have the percepts of subaltern 'groups. It also being an active will of the workers, one may
in relation to working class 'percepts. It is covers a set of 'feelings' often associated in all probability trace here the sediments of
also necessary to recognise the 'originality' with the life-processes of 'individual' a past rebellion or the elementary aspects of
in the subaltern groups even when they are members of the working classes and a probable insurgency. This is in essence
subject to the direction/domination of the peasants. James Freeman's (1979) construct what is meant by contradictions in the com-
ruling bloc: What is -'original' about the of the lower-caste Muli's perceptions does mon sense of subaltern groups, especially

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when they are subject to the domina- amount of Rs 1,650 and the loan amount he would help in taking care of the goats.
tion/direction of the ruling bloc. of Rs 550 (i e, 25 per cent of the project The beneficiaries, along with a hundred
cost). The cost of ten goats allotted to each goats, were sent back in a truck to their
CdMMON SENSE AS A CONCEFP OF family stood at Rs 1,500 and the rest of the village, and the officials of the purchasing
'IMMEDIACY' project money was meant for the follow-up committee returned after paying the 'neces-
sary' amounts to the merchant.
processes in buying fodder, medicines etc for
We have so far tried to examine the inter-
the goats. TWo months later, when the g6ats began
nal character of the structure of common to be affected by diseases, the target groups
The purpose of the ERRP programme is
sense. Now it is necessary to relate it to a with their diseased animals turned up for
to help the 'landless poor', 'agricultural
totality of space and time. help from the veterinary surgeon (VAS) and
labour' and the 'marginal farmer'. i e, those
As Gramsci [1971: 348] argues, the com- were given prescriptions. When some goats
peasant groups officially called the "poorest
monsensical views are directly received from were killed by the disease, they 'managed'
of the poor"' having a maximum of 2 1/2
the structure. It is meaningful in its im-
acres of land and Rs 1,200 as anrual income. to get death certificates from the VAS who,
mediate surroundings of space and time,
These groups are allotted some productive along with other members of the purchas-
even though it may have certain false con-
resources like goatery, piggery, dairy, poultry, ing committee were believed by the benefi-
ceptions of a totality. It has in a sense cer- ciaries to have connived in the selection of
cashew plantation etc, with an expectation
tain direct affiliations with the object of 'im-
of generating some incomes (worth Rs 3,000 'poor quality' goats. A year and a half after
mediacy'. The distant objects in a totality, to Rs 4,000 annually) leading to their their allotment they were left with about'six
from a commonsensical view, seem to be the
rehabilitation above the poverty line. goats each, and none of the families had
external ones. The internal character of the been 'rehabilitated' above the poverty line.
When the beneficiaries were first selected
external objects are not intuitively grasped; At that time, the most nagging question
in 1981, there was no drum-beating in the
at least, not in the same way as the im- which faced them was how to pay the bank
village to make people aware of the scheme.
mediate objects are grasped. Given below are Rather, the scheme was allotted to certain loans of about Rs 550 each. All of them had
two illustrations (a) a case of tribals and twice gone to the Block to 'clarify' the bank
groups already known to the Block officials
peasants in the Gandhamardan movement; who allegedly consulted a village elder in position. One of them asked: "Should we
(b) a case of peasants meant as target groups now sell the rest of the goats to repay the
deciding the target groups. Anyway, among
in a poverty-amelioration programme.
the ten beneficiaries who were selected, there bank loan and lead life as we did before, or
(a) The case of the Gandhamardan people3: was a retired peon who was educated in should we keep the goats and struggle to
In a study of the Gandhamardan move- primary school and was previously working earn whatever we can by selling its milk in
ment, it is found that tribals and peasants, in the Tehsil office. Except him, all the others order to maintain a semblance of escape
from our earlier situation?"
aggrieved by the destruction of their ecology were illiterate. Since he was also an elderly
caused by mining activities, have been strug- person, he took it as an obligation to his Let us recount this process once again and
gling for about two-and-a-half years against family members to approach the Village add a few more facts. The local elites knew
a Central Government mining project con- Level Worker (VLW) and other Block of- pretty well that according to the state govern-
ducted by BALCO in Paikmala (Sambalpur ficials and to plead for some benefits for his ment guidelines, not more than 10 beneficia-
District). While they hold the local Congress relatives. Except his family which owned 11/2 ries could be selected from each village. In
MP and MLAs responsible for the 'fate' in- acres land, the other target families had vir- this particular village, there were more than
flicted upon them by the BALCO "asur" tually no land. Most of them depended on 10 families of poor peasants who could
(demon), they wait for Rajiv Gandhi to per- seasonal employment in agriculture or in the claim to be potential beneficiaries. This
form the "saviour's" role. For a Central nearby forests. means that the government scheme could
Government project engaged in the destruc- For them the government scheme came as not cover potential targets. On the one hand,
tion of the Gandhamardan Hills, the Rajiv a major gift in 'due' recognition of their this introduced among the claimants an in-
Sarkar is not held responsible for their Fate. poverty. In their anxiety to be selected first, tense competition to snatch the Sarkari gift
The Prime Minister is rather treated as an they paid some 'commissions' to the VLW; first and thus made them vulnerable to the
external agent rather than someone internal- they knew pretty well that if they did not pay, 'demands'/'expectations' of the Block of-
ly connected with the whole process of tnin- others would be selected in their place. ficials. On the other hand, it was also
ing activities in a central government pro- True, one of them argued, they would have responsible for the officials' manipulation
ject. On the contrary he is believed by preferred a Jersey Cow or a buffalo scheme. of the target groups. The official could well
Paikmala's poor peasants and tribals as their But that did not mean that they should give expect the peasants to offer him 'commis-
"Bhagwan" (God) who only could save them up an offer of ten goats. As he said, quoting sions' to have their names included in the
from an impending ecological disaster in- an Oriya proverb: "A blind uncle is better selection proforma. Peasants also knew quite
flicted upon them by a nexus of local Balco than no uncle" [an English equivalent: well that they might lose an opportunity to
officials, the BDO and the local Sarpanch, "something is better than nothing"I Thus, get ten goats worth Rs 1,500 to othefs who
MLAs and the Congress MP. when they were allotted the goatery scheme, might pay the necessary commissions. The
they accepted it though not as enthusiastical- manipulation of -the selection process by
(b) The case of rural development target ly as they would have if they had been Block officials was not at all beyond their
groups4: offered a dairy scheme. grasp, and they were prepared to make their
This is a case of ten Pana families (a After the selection was over, the ten own strategic decisions accordingly.
scheduled caste group) in Digapahandi beneficiaries were informed by the technicalThe peasants felt cheated when their
Block (Ganjam District) who were selected officers to proceed to a butcher's shop at the 'knowledge' in judging the quality of the
as beneficiaries of a poverty amelioration nearby town, Aska, 20 kms away from their goats was ignored by the officials. Their
programme, viz, Economic Rehabilitation ofvillage, to buy 100 'quality' goats. The ability in deciding which were the 'good'
Rural Poor (ERRP). The programme was 'illiterate' peasants were thoroughly dis- quality goats was challenged by the literate
launched during the sixth plan period and satisfied with most of the goats because oftechnical officials of the purchasing commit-
was sponsored by the Orissa government their 'bad' quality; these goats, they felt, tee. The peasants were left with no optioql
were physically weak and vulnerable to local but to take whatever goats were available at
In this village, out of twenty poteptial targets
from among marginal and agricultural diseases. When they complained about this, that moment with the local trader. When the
labourers, ten families were selected. Each the veterinary doctor allegedly retorted livestock turned out to be of poor quality,
of them was given ten goats. The total angrily: "Do you know more than I do?" and the scheme did not turn out to be as suc-
project cost of a goatery scheme stood at The peasants withdrew from any further cessful as was expected at the beginning, the
Rs 2,200 which comprised of the subsidy ayguent when the doctor assured them that peasants started indulging in some sort of

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counterfeit thinking. One of them argued: mon sense. A continuous yearly backlog of self-revealing to the sense-perceptions of the
"had we been allotted those 'good-looking' 50 per cent to 60 per cent in fund allotment subaltern groups-a point which needs to
goats ... had our 'knowledge' been accepted by the state government is too heavy a con- be studied separately.
by the 'babus' (in the purchasing commit- straint even for 'good' local officials to im-
tee)... had we been allowed to buy the plement the Block Action Plan effectively. COMMON SENSE AS A CATEGORY OF
livestock from a different merchant. . . our On the other hand, why is it the case that "ORIGINAL THOUGHT";
Fate probably would have been different... despite so much talk in village rallies against
who knows.. ." This was a form of fatalistic 'bad' officials and merchants, the pro- One of the most crucial dimensions of
thinking which, in this case, represented an gramme is still implemented, if not im- subaltern common sense is its originality. It
active will of the peasants. For this was an plemented the same way? Why is it that the is a creative thought-process of the subaltern
indication of their resentment of the of- programme continues to rely on the 'bad' groups. Some rationalisations of their subor-
ficials' behaviour. 'Fatalism' is not necessari- officials (BDO, Bank Branch Manager, dination might have been constructed by
ly only passive; the active element is clearly veterinary doctor etc) as the 'principal themselves. Some dissent, discontent and
discernible in this case. agents' in implementing rural development? counterpoints might have been offered by
Yet the scheme is also seen as a 'gift' of Why is it that poor peasants, whose the subalterns themselves. Such a thought-
a 'good' Sarkar, a package offered and 'amelioration' the programme seeks, are process could well be directly received by the
received as patronage, a gift for the amelio- treated as nothing more than passive subaltern groups from the structure/tradi-
ration of their poverty. Even after an ex- 'receivers' of the programme? What do all tions proper, and not necessarily from the
perience of two and a half years with the these questions mean politically? Neither traditional intellectuals.
goatery scheme, one of the beneficiaries these questions nor their answers are easily The point to be recognised, for example,
retrospectivwly argued: "The Sarkar under- accessible to the 'common sense' of the is that the religious beliefs often attributed
stood our problems; offered us this scheme. target groups. Nor are these questions asked by the subalterns themselves to their sub-
But the 'babus' came in the middle and or answered by planning commission ordination/struggle may not be fully con-
caused problems for us. At least, something economists or by the ministers/MLAs ad- sistent with the religious values prescribed
was better than nothing". Thus, a beneficiary dressing public rallies in the villages. to them by the dominant bloc. Each
tends to think of 'good' programmes as For the moment, let us consider how the subaltern group may have its own specific
'gifts' from a 'good' government, spoiled above case of rural development target religious discourse, different from the
only by a nexus of 'intermediary' groups groups brings out the two crucial dimensions religious values prescribed to them by the in-
which Always come between himself and the of the structure of common sense: common tellectuals'of the ruling classes. In Gramsci's
'good' government. He tends to appreciate sense as a contradictory thought-process and [1971: 420] words:
the good intentions of a government situated yet a meaningful thought-process of the im- Every religion, even Catholicism (indeed
at a distance. He tends to identify the local mediate reality. Catholicism more than any, precisely because
officials of the Block, the Bank and the of its efforts to retain 'a surface' unity and
As we noted above, the government
avoid splintering into national churches and
veterinary centre located in his immediate scheme seems to be a 'good' gift to the poor
social stratifications), is in reality a
proximity as primarily responsible for peasants, and only the local officials are the multiplicity of distinct and often contradic-
frustrating the Sarkar's policy. The govern- 'bad' lot. This may be because of a direct tory religions: there is,one Catholicism for
ment package of goats, Jersey cows, fish, relationship between the target groups and the peasants, one for the petty-bourgeoisie
coconut plants etc, are seen as gifts to help the local state officials on the one hand and
and town workers, one for women, and one
them in relieving their poverty. But the local a mediated relationship between the govern-
for intellectuals which is itself variegated and
merchants and bureaucrats, they feel, are ment scheme and the target groups on the disconnected.
'jealous' of the government's attention other. The paternalistic programme, of a
One notices certain trends of 'originali-
towards them and do not let the gifts pass Sarkar located at a distance seems to carry
ty' in case of the tribal activists of the
to them easily. It needs to be noted that such with it a 'good' intent. The local officials
'Gandhamardan Andolan'. While the
beliefs are reinforced by the Sarkari people are seen as the main oppressors and the
Gandhamardan Surakhya Samiti, consisting
themselves (ministers, for instance) when ad- higher-ups in the state hierarchy as "amelio-
of the Lohia socialist youths and Janata
dressing loan 'melas/village 'melas' and rators" presumably because the immediate
Party members, is thoroughly against the
also, though for a different audience, by society has nothing. to offer the peasant ex-
Congress(I) leadership, some of the local
Planning Commission economists speaking cept their 'bondage. This is precisely the
tribals actively associated with the move-
at seminars. In fact, it is not as though contradictory quality in common sense
ment expect Rajiv Gandhi to play a
political leaders and economists do not perceptions of the state apparatus. Unable
"Saviour's" role. In fact, one of the
know what they are saying when they single to establish the internal connections within
organisers was surprised when he was told
out this nexus of 'intermediary' groups as the state, it contraposes one unit vis-a-vis
about this image of Rajiv Gandhi popular
primarily responsible in frustrating the another. It expects 'liberation' from the dis-
in certain pockets of the movement. Tribals
'good' attempts made by planners in tant unit, while it treats the immedaite unit
have offered their own meanings to the
formulating the poverty-amelioration as its main oppressor.
struggle. This is the 'origirWlity' directly
schemes.6 It is necessary for planners to The commonsensical views are thus in-
received from their own traditions, not
project a neutral and benevolent image and capable of establishing on its own 'the laws
prescribed to them by the organisers.
to lay the blame for the failure of their of interconnections' among the objects in
policies on the 'implementing' agencies. their totality. And this is why common sense One also notices the same'process at work
For the peasants, the 'fraud, cheating and in the final analysis is fragmentary. As the with the peasants' experiences with the local
grabbing by local officials are not difficult above cases show, however, it is a meaningful state officials engaged in the implementa-
to grasp. That the government scheme itself perception of the immediate situation in a tion of the poverty amelioration program-
has only a limited focus which provides the totality of space and time. It is capable of mes. That the local officials are a 'bad' lot
potential ground for the local officials to perceiving the immediate actors who are is within their grasp because the peasants
manipulate is, however, an understanding responsible for its 'Fate. While the questions directly experience their 'fraud, cheating and
not easily obtainable by the target groups of 'immediacy' are central in the structure grabbing'. When the provincial leaders talk
themselves. The Sarkar's overall failures inof common-sense, the distant objects, unlike in the village rallies about this 'fraud' they
resource mobilisation to implement the the immediate ones, do not usually form the'probably reinforce/systematise the peasants'
schemes in time, in mass mobilisation to internal and directly received elements in its"feelings" which are already present in their
check the so-called "corruption" of local of- structure.7 The inter-connections between thought process.
ficials, are not within the reach of their 'coin- the immediate and distant objects are not WVhat is 1iowever crucial in the Gramiscian

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scheme is thaf this process of "original
thought" of the subalterns is essentially con-
tradictory in character. In the normal life of
a hegemonic system, there are not merely ra-
tionalisations of the hegemony process, there
are also different forms of dissent con-
structed by subaltern groups themselves. Fin-
ding a convergence with another an-
thropological study, Freeman [1979: 397]
makes a similar point:
On the basis of evidence from many
stratified societies, Berreman concludes that
no group of people is content to be low in
a caste hierarchy-to live a life of inherited
deprivation and subjection-regardless of the
apparent stability of the system and regard-
less of the rationalisations offered by their
superiors or constructed by themselves'.
Thus, even when "rationalisations" of the
caste/class system are offered by the lower
castes/classes, there are evidences to show
the proliferation of discontent and resent-
ment about their subordination in a hierar-
chical society. This seems to be precisely the
character of the "original thought" of
subalfern groups and the nature of con-
tradictions embedded in this thought.
IV
We have so far discussed Gramsci's criti-
que of certain treatments of subaltern con-
sciousness. We have also offered an inter-
pretation of the Gramscian scheme on the
subject. There are two more issues which
need to be raised in this paper. Firstly, how
are the cognitive maps of the subaltern
groups brought into the fold of hegemony
processes, and why so? And what is its
history in a concrete social formation?
Secondly, what sorts of attempts have been
made in a specific society to resolve the 'con-
tradictory common sense' of th%e subaltern
groups? And how can Marxism as an
autonomous philosophy provide for society
a theory to 'overcome' the contradictions in
the percepts of the subaltern groups? The
first question pertains to the relationship
between the subaltern groups and the
hegemony process; the second question is
about the relationship of the subaltern
groups to the counter-hegemony process.
Given below is a brief review of Marxist
theories on these two processes.
Marxist studies on the hegemony process
have a tendency to treat subaltern con-
sciousness either as an outcome of an 'ap-
propriation' of bourgeois values, or its 'in-
version'. The logic of appropriation in this
case presupposes a very definite process of
duplication of decadent bourgeois values by be considered as a significant departure fromrepresenting the other segments from within
workers who, by doing so, ensure stability
within the system. The analytical stress here tural theory-in Marxism. The recognition of struggle was able to emerge as "the patriarr
is obviously on the mode of communication,
i e, on how the whoie gamut of ruling ideas
are manufactured, and subsequently pro-
pagated among the subaltern groups, and
how these ideas are reproduced by subalterns
themselves. This may be called a hegemony
theory in the Marxist tradition.
The l'ogic of inversion, on the other hand, hegemony process; i e, how is a "pedagogic
lays stress on more structural dimensions like relationship"" established between the con-
the treatment of consequences as the cause, tradictory common sense of the subaltern
object as subject, and so on. A producer no groups and the ruling ideas largely initiated
longer knows what becomes of the product. by the ruling bloc?
The link between production and'consump- We offer a very sketchy answer to these
tion is 'lost sight of' in the market. The pur- questions by placing an interpretation of a
pose for which he produces is constantly passage in Marx's Eighteenth Brumaire
contradicted by the consequences. The which may form a starting-point of an in-
workers are forced to sell their 'labourpower' quiry into the above questions. Marx is try-
without knowing what they are doing. The ing to answer what seems to us one of the
workers are dissociated from any control crucial questions of his time: how was Louis
over the labour-process without any Bonaparte able within three years of his rule
knowledge of it. The workers produce more to establish an effective "pedagogic relation-
than what they receive without knowingship" that with the most numerous sections of
they do so. These are a few crucial mean- French society, the peasant groups? The
ings of 'inversion' in the structural sense. Theanswer is offered by Marx himself:
whole idea of 'losing sight of' one's subjecti- This point should be clearly understood:
vity, one's own potentialities, the causality the Bonaparte dynasty represents the conser-
of one's own action, means only this: the vative, not the revolutionary peasant: the pea-
working class is tied to the totality of "struc- sant who wants to consolidate the condition
tural antagonisms" in bourgeois society of his social existence, not the peasant who
without any knowledge of being so tied; it strikes out beyond it. It does not represept
the country people who want to ovrthrow
is consequently 'duped' by the possibilities
in the bourgeois system. This logic of inver- an old order by their own energies, in alliance
sion is typical of what may be termed as a with the towns, but the precise oppositt
structural theory in Marxism. those who are gloomily enclosed within this"
old order and want to see themselves and
Both approaches, the former emphasising their small holdings saved and given preferen-
the working class appropriation of bourgeois tial treatment by the ghost of the Empire. It
values (consciousness) and the latter stress- represents the peasant's superstition, not his
ing the subaltern inversion of bourgeois posi- enlightenment; his prejudice, not his judg-
tions (structure) as the respective keys to the ment; his past, not his future; his modern
stability of the system, may be treated as two Vendee, not his modern Cevennes (Marx,
sides of the False Consciousness School in 1973: 240).
Marxism. Both approaches tend to treat On the one hand, the series of perceptions
working-class consciousness in hegemony of the French peasantry under Bonapartist
processes as some kind of concealment of hegemony may be characterised as a series
the "structural antagonisms" in bourgeois within the peasant's contradictory con-
society. Corresponding to their approaches, sciousness: his prejudice vis-a-vis his judg-
both seem to be respectively satisfied with ment; his superstition vis-a-vis his enlighten-
the critique of the 'dominant ideologies' ment; his nostalgia for the past vis-a-vis his
(Ruling IdeaS) and 'structural antagonisms' hopes for a better future; his ability in
(Dominant Structure). They, consequently, creating a modern royalist revolt as an
ignore or more often dismiss a proposal to Vendee vis-a-vis his ability to create a move-
recognise the cognitive processes original to ment for "freedom of conscience" as in
the 'being' of the subaltern groups. Cevennes (1702-05). On the other hand, the
As we have argued in the last section, at Bonapartist ideology initiated by "the ghost
least, some cognitive processes of the of the Empire" represented only one 'level'
subaltern groups in the hegemony processof the series. It established during three years
are in a crucial sense created by the of "hard rule' a pedagogic relationship with
subalterns themselves. Both approaches one segment of consciousness, not the other
within the False Consciousness School have in the series. At the same time, its inability
completely ignored this process. Gramsci's to represent to the "precise opposite" of
concept of contradictory common sense, as what it represented indicated certain crucial
seen above, recognises "the original limits to its own way of establishing its
thought" of the subaltern groups, evenideological
when hegemony over the French
they are subordinated to a ruling bloc. peasantry. True, it did not represent the
Hence, this conceptual innovation in the French peasants' enlightenment, its judg-
Gramscian scheme for a study of subaltern ment about a better future and its ability to
consciousness in the hegemony process mayfight for freedom from royalism. Yet, by
the hegemony theory as well as the struc- the series, Bonaparte in a process of hard
the crucial distinctions in the belief systemschal benefactor" of the French peasantry.
upheld by different classes in the complex This seems to be a process by which, we
of class struggles has a critical significance suggest, the common sense of the subaltern
for a Marxist political theory. groups are brought into an affinity with the
Now the question which remains to be principles of the ruling bloc. It is necessary
answered is: how is 'the original thought' of to explore in detail how this affinity, as Marx
the subalterns brought into the fold of the suggests, is established in concrete historical
gcases. When the ministers in loan melas

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single out only the local state officials as sense is basically a spontaneous philosophy This is why it is significant today to recall
mainly responsible for 'fraud,.cheating andof the multitude, meaningful in its 'im- Gramsci's treatment of the subject; As it
grabbing', they do seem to be reinforcing themediate' surroundings. Thus a glorification comes from one of the leading spokesmen
beliefs already existing in the peasants' of spontaneous movements, ignoring the of the 'vanguard' tradition in Europe of the
world. In this sense, the official mobilisa- limits of their 'logic', not to speak of their time, it is all the more significant to take into-
tion of the masses for loan melas/village spatial and temporal limits, is necessarily a account his critique of the tendencies grow-
rallies where schemes are allotted may be glorification of common sense arnd, con- ing in the tradition. The protagonists of
seen as attempts of the provincial/national sequently a glorification of 'immediacy' as 'organisation' on the questions of hegemony,
leaders in representing certain levels of the opposed to a 'totality. Ideas'like spon- 'subjectivity' 'revolutionary spirit' and so on
peasant's view of "bad life" inflicted upon taneous, uninterrupted militancy or the seem to be employing a notion of 'totality'
them by local bureaucrats. More elaborate methods of annihilating the 'immediate' which is some kind of an undifferentiated
studies of this sort of problem are needed. enemy without creating ideological aware- whole and is completely oblivious of the
ness of a 'totality', do considerably under- concepts of 'levels', 'distinctions'. 'inter-
V connections' established within a tbtality.
mine the perspective of a totality which is
an ideological prerequisite for the creation The hegemonic subjectivity is believed to be
Now we return to the second set of ques- a single whole. In spite of multiple classes
of a revolutionary situation. Such move-
tions raised in the last'section. As Gramsci ments, however numerous and scattered theyin bourgeois society, all the ideas of society
argues, one can ask a series of questions on may be, are consistent with Croce's project are believed to be ruling-class ideas. The sub-
the relationship between certain schools of
and seem to be rooted in a commonsensical jectivity of the whole society is one and the
thought of elite groups and the common radicalism of the working classes who same: bourgeois subjectivity. The subjective
sense percepts of the subaltern blocs. One
possibly in their everyday existence haved'istinctions
the within the bourgeois whole are
may ask, for example, what constitutes the secondary or insignificant in character.
urge for 'annihilation' of the 'immediate
relationhip between the hegemonic systems
enemy', uninterrupted militancy and so on What is crucial is its undifferentiated
of thought on the ope hand and the and thus, now and then, tend to accept the oneness. It is this sort of oneness which is
percepts/structures for feeling of the revolutionary protagonists of the Crocean presumed to have ensured the stability of the
subaltern groups on the other? Or, say, what frame. system. The question of 'revolutionary spirit'
constitutes the relationship between the
The advocates of 'organisation, on the is also treated the same way. The counter-
counter-hegemony strategies of "profes- other hand, do seem to tilt somewhat hegemony process is not seen as a series of
sional intellectuals" on the one hand and the feelings o, percepts represented or trans-
ironically in Bukharin's way. The votaries of
structures of common sense of the popular formed into "stable' concepts by the workers
'organisation' stress the fact that for a
element on the other? Here we can discuss
socialist revolution to succeed, it must be themselves. In this perspective, the revolu-
these problems only in a limited sense. We
guided by an 'organisation' of the working tionary urge does not seem to be central to
go back to the points raised in Section II and
class, a vanguard of professional intellectuals the workers' "being". What is rather believed
use these as reference points to examine
armed with the 'instruments' of Historical to be crucial is to treat the working class as
curtain parallel tendencies in Marxism Materialism. The 'vanguard' undertakes the a potential revolutionary force. Only via a
noticeable in recent times. Here, as in
task of 'educating' the working class which, revolutionary organisation, a worker
Section II, Gramsci's critique of Croce and presumably under the pernicious influences becomes an actual revolutionary and realises
Bukharin ought to be borne in mind.
of the ruling classes, has appropriated the his/her own 'being'. Hs 'being', due to its
In the Crocean scheme, as Gramsci
decadent bourgeois values. The primary task subjection to a hegemony process, does not
argues, philosophy converges with common of 'organisation' in such cases is to enable on its own seem to determine his 'conscious-
sense. common sense is philosophy and the revolutionary spirit to 'trickle down' ness' until he is encountered by the
philosophy is commonsensical. common among the workers by way of a critique of 'vanguard'. His own consciousness in the
sense seems to be not merely the source of bourgeois values (Ideas) or the exploitative
hegemony process is only a 'reified' oine,
philosophy but also its 'content' The forms,social relations (Structures) or both. appropriated from the dominant cusses The
however, may be at variance with one
revolutionary spirit must thus trickle down
another. When the philosophy of an elite The immediate working-class conscious- to the workers from the vanguard and its
group of intellectuals patronises 'common ness in the hegemony process is thus believed professional intellectuals.
sense' as the sense of a society, it does not to be a bourgeois cozsciousness-an idea
merely ignore the historical growth of an perhaps deduced from one of Marx's for- Both the 'trickle down' hegemony theory
epistemology but also in a way serves a more mulations, "The ideas of the ruling class are and the corresponding 'trickle down'
contemporary political project of contain- in every epoch the ruling ideas". Or else, how counter-hegemony strategies are analytically
ing "little people" in their "little traditions" does one interpret the logic of appropriation misplaced perspectives in the Marxist
and thereby chokes the possibility of pro- adopted by the hegemony theory? The point political tradition. For both considerably
gress of their knowledge and traditions. to be noted, however, is that the working undermine the "original thought" of the
Croce's philosophy patronises the common class under bourgeois hegemony does not subaltern groups, their own active will
man's common sense and inserts in the seem to have any 'subjectivity' except its own involved in hegemony as well as counter-
'common' people a Fitchean Ego "I = 1". 'being'. Even in cases where workers hegemony processes. For the sjubjectivity
But a life proud of itself, "6= I" in the im- autonomously appropriate the bourgeois that dominates is not the subjectivity of a
mediate sense, is a stationary life. It would values, they are treated no better than "self- whole society consisting of several classes.
soon lose sight of its limits and would not acting mules". The logic of appropriation, There are different types of subjectivity in
be able to create the possibilities of its fur- autonomous or not, means only one thing: consonance with the existence of different
ther growth. More precisely, it would miss that bourgeois ideologies predominate the class groups. In a complex of class struggles,
the significance of being a 'Critique', i e, it working classes in normal times. The one subjectivity predominates the others but
would not be able to understand its own vanguard organisation and its intellectuals does not pre-empt the others' existence. The
strengths and limitations and look for waysmust consequently provide a critique of workers' original subjectivity in consonance
of overcoming the limits. bourgeois ideologies or the structural with their existence in hegemony processes
When a prose of insurgency is inspired by contradictions. is not pre-empted by the fact of the subordi-
the Crocean perspective, it results in disasters Bukharin's interpretation, if the pro- nation of workers to the ruling classes. In
for the socialist revolution. In the 'spontanei- tagonists of 'organisation' suggest anythingthe process of continuous class struggles,
ty' vs 'organisation' debate, spontaneity at all, seems to be the dominant tendency what is probably central to the hegemony of
seems to stand on Croce's side. common still persisting within most sorts of Marxism. the bourgeoisie is how to produce and

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reproduce the limits on the original thought
of the subaltern groups who constitute its
basic opposites.9
VI
It is essential, a point which Gramsci
reiterates, to examine on its own the original
thought of the subaltern group-an elabora-
tion independent of, but complementary to
a critique of the social structure and its
dominant ideologies. So long as Marxism
ignores this question, its relationship with
its own 'agency', supposed to be a base of
its philosophy, would remain an external
one. From this angle, in the journey from
Crocean radicalism to a Bukharin-type
Marxism, c.-ie probably leaps only from the
fetish of working-class commonsense to the
extreme opposite of its objectification. In the
latter case, Marxism is trapped within
Enlightenment empiricism and its rationali-
ty. In the former version, it is paralysed by
a critical theory tradition. Marxism is yet to
attain the status of an autonomous
philosopy with a capacity, as in the present
case, to unravel the cognitive maps of its
'own' agencies. Gramsci's concept of com-
monsense, as stated above, offers a useful
break with these traditions in Marxism arid
also supplies the elements for an adequate
formulation of subaltern praxis tied within
the hegemony process. It may, as Gramsci
believes, offer a useful starting point to un-
cover a repository of percepts based on
which an effective construction of Marxist
theory and practice could be carried out.
The journey in the elaboration or in a criti-
que of a hegemony process, as Gramsci
[1971: 425] suggests, ought to "start in the
first place in commonsense, then secondly
from religion, and only at a third stage move
on to .he philosophical systems elaborated
by traditional intellectual groups".
A systematic examination of this journey
is a long task. The present paper is only
about its starting point.
Notes
rrhe author is grateful to M S S Pandian, Asok
Sen and Partha Chatterjee for their valuable
comments and suggestions on questions whose
answers are not easily forthcoming. The paper
was ega-lier presented at the Workshop on "An-
Lonio Grimsci and South Asia" held at the Cen-
tre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, Ju-
ly 1-2, 1987.]
; For the broad generalisations offered by
Gramsci himself, see especially the section,
hilosophy of Paraxis' in Prison Notebooks
.,1971].
2 See, for example, works of Bailey [1971],
Geertz [1973; 1975] and others.
3 See, 'Gandhamardan Shows the Way' in
Frontier (1987); see also, a report of a Group
of Scholars (1986).
4 The data presented here are from my field
experiences and M Phil dissertation; see,
Patnaik [1984; 1987].
5 For a rigorous distinction between fatalism
of professional intellectuals as a passive
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element and fatalism of the subalterns seen Freedom: Essays ift Honour of Isaiah
as an active process, see Gramsci [1971], p Berlin, OUP, Oxford, 1979.
337. Counihan, Carole, 'Antonio Gramsci and
6 See, Patnaik [1987]. Social Science, Dialectical Anthropology,
7 Ibid. vol 11, no 1, 1986.
8 For an excellent treatment of hegemony as
Engels, F, 'Preface to the English Edition, in
a pedagogy among-the different forces, see Karl Marx,. Capital, vol 1, Progresses
Mouffe [1979]. Publishers, Moscow, 1984.
9 For now lower caste/class groups perceive Freeman, James M, Untouchable: an Indian
certain attempts by the landlord/upper caste Life History, George Allen and Unwin,
people as strategies in containing them in London, 1979.
their original positions, cf Alam [1985],
Gerrtz, Clifford, 'The Impact of the Concept
"There has been very little 'upliftment' of ourof Culture on the Concept of Man', in his
community, except that some blatant forms The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected
of discrimation have gone. But the 'swarans' Essays, Basic Books, New York, 1973.
(upper caste people) think that we are get-
-, 'Common sense as a Cultural System', The
ting too many benefits and forgetting our Antioch Review, no 33, 1975.
'place'. So there is an opposite pressure by Gramsci, Antonio, Selections from the Prison
the powerful people to hold us back and keep Notebooks, International Publishers, New
us in place". This is one of the expressions York, 1971.
of a harijan agricultural labourer LAlam, Institute for Study of Society and Culture
1985: 45]. 'Gandhamardan Shows the Way', Frontier,
vol 19, no 34, April 11, 1987.
Marx, K A1869), 'The Eighteenth Brumaire of
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